Slavic Holidays
by VampirePaladin
Summary: Because of General Winter, Ukraine gets to spend the holidays with her brother and sister this year.  She becomes increasingly stressed out as she tries to make the holidays as festive as she can.


Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. I am doing three different Secret Santa exchanges. This is for Charbus from the

Ukraine smiled happily as she cooked in her brother's kitchen. Normally, having a storm come and make it impossible to travel was considered a bad thing. To this girl, it was a blessing in disguise. It meant that she would get to spend a few more days with Russia and Belarus. While she had moved out of Russia's house years ago, family was still very important to her.

She hummed a tuneless song. Oversized mitts protected her hands as she removed a cake from the oven. The smell of the spices from the honey cake quickly filled the warm room with a fragrant order. She set the cake on the counter to cool down. A quick glance outside told her that more of the delicate snow flakes were coming down in herds to join the four foot high army already on the ground.

Ukraine left the kitchen to tell her siblings the cake was done. She found Russia playing Tetris while Belarus stared at him with an intensity that would make even the toughest men tremble. Few realized it was a look of love from the younger girl. Ukraine always purposely ignored her sister's romantic affections toward their brother.

"I made honey cake," she smiled at the two of them.

"I wanted Creole trifle," Russia barely looked up at her.

"I want Creole trifle too," Belarus was quick to request the same thing her brother wanted.

"Ukraine, why don't you make that for us, da?" Russia smiled sweetly at her.

"Alright," she smiled, hiding the disappointment, "I will make that too then."

Ukraine returned to the kitchen and began to search for dried cake to make the Creole triffle. She sighed when she realized that she would have to make the cake from scratch. It was the Christmas season though and she would not get a chance to leave for awhile. With a smile she set to work on the new dessert. It took awhile to make, but soon she had a delicious Creole triffle that smelled a little like licorice. She left it next to the honey cake she had begun to snack on.

Ukraine went to look for her siblings. She could not find Russia, but she did find Belarus who seemed to be working intently on Russia's computer. Her younger sister did not turn her head, but a small movement indicated that she knew Ukraine was there.

"Are you having fun, Belarus?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing?"

"Going through big brother's e-mail."

Ukraine thought about it for a second and in the end decided not to say anything about invading Russia's privacy. This was something small compared to some of the other things she had caught Belarus doing.

"Do you know where brother is?"

"He is trying to dig us out. I would have helped but brother said he wanted me to stay warm. It is a sign that big brother wants to marry me!"

"The Creole triffle is done."

"Alright." Belarus returned to going through Russia's e-mail. The girl was completely disinterested in the dessert now.

Ukraine found a coat to wrap around herself and put on a pair of boots before going outside. She found her brother had already dug an impressive twenty foot long path. He still had a long way to go and the roads themselves were impassible even when he got that far.

"I finished the Creole triffle."

Russia turned to her, "I don't want one anymore. Thank you for trying."

Ukraine felt her heart sink a little as she went back inside. Still, she forced herself to not to get too down. She turned on a CD player and listened to music as she decorated the house for New Year's and Christmas. The festive activity raised her spirits and she soon almost forgot about the desserts. She set up a tree for New Year's. On the mantlepiece she put an adorable figure of Grandfather Frost. He was flanked by the Snowmaiden. Ukraine continued to fill the room with decorations. When she finished she stepped back to admire her handy work.. Ukraine nodded to herself before heading upstairs.

In the Orthodox Church Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. Here, Christmas was a solemn holiday. New Year's was the big festive celebration. She had presents for both her brother and her sister hidden under her bed. She pulled them out. For her brother was mittens and a hat to go with his scarf. Belarus was getting a new dress. Ukraine had made them herself. She pulled out the wrapping paper she had carefully selected. Very carefully she wrapped the precious gifts. Each was topped with a bow, red for Russia, purple for Belarus. With that done she returned downstairs.

Russia and Belarus were sitting nicely on the couch together. They were watching an old Soviet Union propaganda film. Ukraine smiled at the sight. It was nice to see the two of them acting like normal siblings. The two were even sharing a bag of candy together. Actually, it was the same type of candy she had bought for New Year's.

"Where did you get the candy?"

"Big brother found it."

"Da, General Winter won't let us leave to buy groceries. We decided to eat candy I found."

"But there is cake and triffle sitting in the kitchen."

"We wanted candy," Russia said.

"Oh... All right." Ukraine found herself mentally repeating to just ignore it. Spending time together was more important then a bag of candy. "I'll just go make dinner."

Ukraine trudged into a room in shades of steel grey. There was a draft coming in from one of the windows. She had trouble getting the stove to run. Russia needed to buy more groceries. Ukraine found herself struggling to make something even remotely resembling food. In the end she managed to make a soup. It was not the best soup that she had ever made, but it would do.

A crash came from the living room. Ukraine ran from the stove, scared for her siblings. She found the tree had been knocked over. It had hit the mantel piece, shattering Grandfather Frost. The smell of burning yarn drifted over. The ornaments she had made were burning. Ukraine used her strength to bull the tree away from the fireplace. She started stomping on the flames on the tree, floor and the ornaments.

When she was finished the tree was ruined, most the ornaments were either burnt or destroyed in the fall and Grandfather Frost had been broken into even more pieces in her attempt to get the fire out before it destroyed her brother's home. There was no sign of either Belarus or Russia. Ukraine sank to the floor. The debris dug painfully into her legs. Ukraine started to cry. Her sobs were loud. Snot started to drip from her nose as she cried.

She was not aware that anyone else was in the room with her until two pairs of hands gently helped her up and moved her to the couch. Ukraine heard the heavy footsteps of her brother move away and toward the ruined tree. A pair of delicate hands started picking glass shared off of her pants.

Her crying calmed down. There was a weight on her legs. She looked down to see a smallish box with holes in it. Her eyes traveled up to see Russia and Belarus. Both stared at her like a pair of children.

The three sat there in silence until at the same time both her younger siblings began to speak. She tried to absorb as much as she can. Something had escaped while she was baking the honey cake. The two had been trying to distract her while they tried to catch whatever it was. At one point it had even gotten outside. Belarus had begun looking up ways online to catch it (reading her brother's e-mail was a perk). While searching for it they found the candy right before catching it. Then it escaped again and that was when the two had somehow knocked the tree over in an attempt to catch it again.

"What were you trying to catch?"

"My present for you," Belarus said. Her eyes glanced down at the box.

Ukraine reached down and pulled the lid off. Inside was the most adorable pair of mice she had ever seen. She smiled as she stroke the sleepy rodents. They must have worn themselves out in their escape attempts.

"Thank you, Belarus."

"I helped little sister catch them again."

"Thank you, Russia."

Ukraine smiled at the two of them. Suddenly, everything that had happened today did not seem so bad.

Outside the window, the snow stopped falling. General Winter had gotten tired of the scenery at Russia's house. He felt it was time to move on to somewhere else for awhile.


End file.
